The quirks of Livery Company Coats of Arms
One of the most popular of the lectures I deliver for the Arts Society is that on the Heraldry of the City of London and its Livery Companies. When I offered to repeat the lecture for the Heraldry Society in the summer of 2020 it resulted in over 500 enrolments and a sorry looking wait list! Clearly there is substantial interest in the topic - not least because of it's strong visual appeal. Aside from the immense amount and variety of visual material this topic provides, it is also evergreen as the Livery Companies continue to return to the College of Arms in order to make additions to their armorial achievements or engage the services of heraldic artists to depict their arms in new and innovative ways. Meanwhile new Guilds and Companies without Livery periodically embark on the process of petitioning for arms thereby adding to the emblazoned panoply of corporate arms in the Square Mile. During my exploration of this topic I have discovered an array of heraldic quirks and foibles t...